Tower of London security firm reports more orders

The firm that provides security for the Tower of London today said it was confident of hitting its annual targets after half-year profits rose 7.8%.

Outsourcing specialist MITIE told investors that its forward order book was increasing and it had already secured 92% of its budgeted revenues for the year.

New customers have included mobile phone maker Motorola and City of York Council in England, while MITIE has also been retained as cleaner of historic landmarks such as Kensington Palace.

Pre-tax profits from continuing operations increased to £23.4m (€34.2m) during the six months to September 30 from £21.7m (€31.7m) a year earlier on the back of a 14.5% hike in turnover to £449.2m (€656.5m).

While most of its major businesses were performing well, MITIE said its engineering services arm was continuing to experience difficult trading conditions.